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October 21, 2007
Disneyana
More on The Heartland Film Festival in the next couple of days. But first…
Mark Zoradi gave a presentation at the festival today on Disney, past and present. A couple of minor news items (which might well have been reported elsewhere already… I am no Disney geek) from the conversation that might be of interest.
After all the screaming about Hannah Montana concert tickets, the studio has decided to tape one of her concerts and to release it in 3D in theaters in February. Interesting effort in new media. Eyes will be watching, as the idea of concerts regularly playing in multiplexes has been a pipe dream being pushed for over a decade now.
The Holiday 2009 schedule for Disney will be Bob Zemeckis’ motion-capture A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey, followed by Wild Hogs 2.
Zorhadi showed the new National Treasure 2 trailer, which will be in theaters in the next couple of weeks, and makes the film seem a lot more action-packed and Da Vinci-esque than the original.
Also looking far more mature was Prince Caspian, the second Chronic-les of Narnia film. The film promises a lot more action and less cuteness. This package they showed (first shown, I suspect, at ShowEast) makes the series look like the Rings for the first time to my eye… and they already have a pretty strong worldwide franchise on their hands.
He also showed some footage from Wall-E (also, I think, from a ShoEast package). It looked adorable, though it didn’t start to scratch the surface of the space storyline.
The centerpiece of the evening was Enchanted, from which the “Happy Work Song” was played. It’s one of the better sequences in the film.
In Q&A, there were some surprisingly probing questions from this Indianapolis audience. Song of the South would come out some day… but no time soon. Yes, a 2D animation is being planned, but can’t be discussed yet. And quite specifically, Disney has an official position that it will not make any R rated films, even under Touchstone. The alternate releasing arm will occasionally do movies that are too heavy for Walt Disney Pictures branding, but nothing harder than a PG-13, period.
The best story was about starting the Home Video division in 1980 and being unable to find mom and pop video stores that weren’t driven by the porn business, making Disney being on the same racks untenable. So as he tells it, the first couple of years of Disney home video was available only at photo processing booths like PhotoMat. You’d request a film and it would be delivered to the kiosk the next day for your pick-up. 27 years ago. How things change.
Security was heavy in the room, as Disney was sweating even clips. Cell phones were all checked in outside the screening room. Four sets of infrared goggles were out during the clips being screened. And this is at the very kind, gentle, friendly Heartland Festival. How things change.
Posted by poland at October 21, 2007 09:30 PM
Comments
Touchstone has had a minimal number of R rated movies for many years now, usually dumping them into the marketplace with little fanfare or promotion. An exception is last year's Apocalypto.
The studio has gotten a LOT more conservative with Cook, Aviv and Zoradi running the show.
Miramax will continue to release R rated films, luckily for all of us.
Posted by: Wrecktum ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 21, 2007 10:15 PM
One family Christmas-revival movie should be enough for any filmmaker.
Posted by: jeffmcm at October 22, 2007 01:38 AM
Maybe Zemeckis can do a motion-capture remake of Song of The South next.
Posted by: Eddie at October 22, 2007 09:04 AM
Looking forward to Enchanted. Hopefully it brings what Stardust didn't (yeah, I know they're not really the same, but still fairytale stories nonetheless).
Posted by: brack at October 22, 2007 09:45 AM
Do not discount the Hannah Montana phenomenon. There's money to be made in Miley Cyrus' pop singing.
When tickets went on sale for her Salt Lake City concert (Oct. 27) a few months ago, they sold out Energy Solutions Arena, the 19,000-plus-seat home of the Utah Jazz formerly known as the Delta Center, in 40 minutes. When a Friday date was added at the last minute - the concert that will be shot for the 3D film you mentioned - tickets sold out in 30 minutes.
Similar sell-outs occurred at all 54 dates on her tour, often aided by ticket brokers and their new software that thwarts TicketMaster's security system. Go to the brokers' web sites and you'll find Hannah Montana tickets going for $1,000 and more - and you'll also find parents of spoiled 9-year-olds willing to pay for them.
Posted by: Sean Means at October 22, 2007 02:29 PM
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